I have decided to offer a tell-all of the story behind Runaway Smile on my blog. This is done for two reasons: first, I want to thank all the people who made it possible, especially Dimitris Fousekis and George Vasdekis. Second, I want to inspire any authors who are looking for a way to get published without surrendering all rights to their hard work, but for whatever reason are not interested in self-publishing.

The Runaway Smile started out as a silly poem that I was playing with in my head (you can read the final version of it at the end of the book). One day, back in 2012, I was having my childhood friend, Dimitris Fousekis, over for lunch. He’s a professional illustrator and liked the poem so much, that he suggested we turn it into a children’s book. This was before I decided to become an author…